Like Christ ~ Andrew Murray

[i]These excerpts are taken from 'Day By Day' by Andrew Murray. This devotional contains rich snippets from the writings of Andrew Murray. For the month of March I hope to share each day the devotional for that day as a way to encourage others to be 'Like Christ'.[/i]

~~~~~~~~~~~~

To study the image of God in the man Christ Jesus, to yield and set open our inmost being for that image to take possession and live in us, and then to go forth and let the heavenly likeness reflect itself and shine out in our life among our fellow-men,--this is what we have been redeemed for; let this be what we live for.

~Andrew Murray

The reason why we so often do not bless others is that we wish to address them as their superiors in grace of gifts, or, at least, their equals. The love of Christ flowing into you will flow again from you, and make it your greatest joy to follow his example in washing the feet of others.

-Andrew Murray

The external and bodily is the gate to the inner and spiritual life. He makes the salvation of the soul the first object in His holy ministry of love; at the same time, however, seeking the way to the hearts by the ready service of love in the little and common things of daily life.

-Andrew Murray

broclint wrote:

The love of Christ flowing into you will flow again from you, and make it your greatest joy to follow his example in washing the feet of others.

The principle that convicted Art Katz according to his testimony! One that changes any church and any home into a haven of rest.

Thanks for the posts.

Clint

Amen! That reminds me of,

O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
Love of every love the best!
’Tis an ocean vast of blessing,
’Tis a haven sweet of rest!

It is Christ! Wholly Christ! He is the Source and we are the channels. :-D

~~~~

Day 4
Because my Surety is not someone outside of me, but One in whom I am, and who is in me, therefore it is that I can become like Him. He lives Himself in me. To follow His footsteps is a duty, because it is a possibility, the natural result of the wonderful union between Head and Members.

I have to gaze on His example so as to know and follow it; and to abide in Him and open my heart to the blessed workings of His life in me.

-Andrew Murray

As surely as Jesus conquered sin and its curse for me, will He conquer it in its power in me. What He began by His death for me, He will perfect by His life in me.

-Andrew Murray

Taking up the cross and following Jesus is nothing less than living every day with our own life and will given up to death. The crucified Christ and the crucified Christian belong to eachother. The Christian glories in the cross because it makes him a partner in death and victory that has already been accomplished, and in which the deliverance from the powers of the flesh and of the world has been secured to him.

-Andrew Murray

The Lord Jesus has shown us that the best place to practice self-denial is in our ordinary intercourse with men.

-Andrew Murray

Day 8

Who can say whether this is not one of the secrets which eternity will reveal, that sin was permitted because otherwise God's love could never so fully have been revealed? The highest glory of God's love was manifest in the self-sacrifice of Christ. Without entire self-sacrifice we cannot love as Jesus loved.

Day 9

It is only when we sacrifice ourselves to God that there will be the power for an entire self-sacrifice. When faith has first appropriated the promise, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me," I understand the glorious harmony between sacrifice to God and sacrifice for men

Day 10

The freer the church is of the spirit and principles of the world, the more influence she will exert in it. The believer sees that the only way to answer his calling is, as crucified to the world, to withdraw himself from its power, as living in Christ to go into it and bless it. He lives in heaven and walks on earth.

-Andrew Murray

Day 11

The Church of Christ in her mission, "Go ye and teach all nations," has the promise, "Lo, I am with you always." The Lord does not demand anything which He does not give the power to perform. The Lord Jesus will give His people all the preparation they need.

Day 12

Christ's mission is the only reason for our being on earth. Just as with Jesus, our heavenly mission demands nothing less than entire consecration

-Andrew Murray

The stronger the Christian's faith is in God's everlasting purpose, the more his courage to work will be strengthened; the more he works and is blessed, the clearer it will become that all is of God.

-Andrew Murray

The great object of redemption was to make us and our will free from the power of sin, and to lead us again to live and do the will of God. In His life on earth He showed us what it is to live only for the will of God; in His death and resurrection He won for us the power to live and do the will of God as He had done.

-Andrew Murray

Day 15

Not herein is sin, that man has a creature will different from the Creator's, but in this, [b]that he clings to his own will when it is seen to be contrary to the will of the Creator.[/b] Take God's will as one great whole, as the only thing for which you live on earth.

Day 16

God's will only seems hard as we look at it from a distance, and are unwilling to submit to it. How beautiful the will of God makes everything in Nature! The will of God is the will of His love. How can you fear to surrender yourself to it?

Day 17

A hearty obedience to the commandments, and a ready obedience to the conscience, are the preparation for that Divine teaching of the Spirit which will lead thee deeper into the meaning and application of the Word, and into a more direct and spiritual insight into God's will with regard to thyself personally. It is to those [i]who obey [/i]Him, God gives the Holy Spirit, through whom the blessed will of God becomes the light that shines evermore brightly on our path! --"If any man will do His will, he shall know."

A Christlike sense of sonship will lead to a Christlike obedience.

-Andrew Murray

It was the compassionate sympathy of Jesus that attracted so many to Him upon earth; that same compassionate tenderness will still, more than anything, draw souls to you and your Lord.

-Andrew Murray

Just in proportion as we live in more or less entire dependence on the Father, will His life plan for us be more or less perfectly worked out in our lives. The nearer the believer comes to this entire dependence of the Son, doing nothing but what He sees the Father do, and then to His implicit obedience, whatsoever He doeth, doing these in like manner, so much more will the promise be fulfilled in us. The Father showeth him all things that He Himself doeth, and will show him greater works than these.

-Andrew Murray

[b]The desire for independence was the temptation in Paradise, is the temptation in each human heart.[/b] It seems hard to be nothing, to know nothing, to will nothing. And yet it is so blessed. [b]This dependence brings us into most blessed communion with God;[/b] it takes from us all care and responsibility. It gives us real power and strength of will, because we know that He works in us to will and to do. It gives us the blessed assurance that our work will succeed, because we have allowed God alone to take charge of it.

-Andrew Murray

Just because Jesus' life was strong and true, it could not bear the loss of direct and constant intercourse with the Father, with whom and in whom it had its being and its blessedness. Even work in the service of God and of love is exhausting; we cannot bless others without power going out from us; this must be renewed from above. [b]It is from Heaven alone that the power to lead a heavenly life on earth can come.[/b]

-Andrew Murray

The entire sacrifice of ourselves to God in every prayer of daily life is the only preparation for those single hours of soul-struggle in which we may be called to some special act of surrender of the will that costs us tears and anguish. But he who has learnt the former, will surely receive strength for the latter.

-Andrew Murray

When we behold the glory of God in Christ, in the glass of the Holy Scriptures, His glory shines upon us, and into us, and fills us, until it shines out from us again.

[b]Beholding Jesus makes us like Him.[/b]

-Andrew Murray

It is grace we need, and not sin, to make and keep us humble. The heaviest laden branches always bow the lowest. The nearer the soul comes to God, the more His Majestic Presence makes it feel it's littleness.

-Andrew Murray

If the believer holds fast what his participation with Christ’s death signifies, he has the power to overcome sin. It is not said sin is dead; but he himself is dead to sin and alive to God, and so sin cannot for a single moment, with out his consent, have dominion over him. If he sin, it is because he allows it to reign, and submits himself to it.

-Andrew Murray

How many have been looking most earnestly for the full insight into the blessedness of being "dead unto sin and alive unto God," and yet have failed. [b]They have been more occupied with the blessings to be had in Jesus, or with the effort to exercise a strong abiding faith in these blessings as theirs, than with [color=FF0000]Jesus Himself[/color], in whom both the blessings and faith that sees them are ours.[/b]

-Andrew Murray

It is as you bear the image of God here, as you live in the likeness of Jesus, who is the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, that you will be fitted for the glory to come. If we are to bear the image of the heavenly, the Christ in glory, we must first bear the image of the earthly, the Christ in humiliation.

-Andrew Murray

To be filled with the Holy Spirit we must wait on our Lord in faith. His love desires to give us more than we know. You are in the Spirit as your vital air; the Spirit is in you as your life-breath. [b] It is impossible to say what the Lord Jesus would do for a soul who is truly willing to live as entirely through Him, as He is through the Father.[/b]

-Andrew Murray

"With what care the tenderly sensitive plate of the photographer is prepared to receive the impression; with what precaution its relative position to the object to be portrayed is adjusted; how still and undisturbed it is then held face to face with that object. Having done this, the photographer leaves the light to do its wonderful work; his work is a work of faith.

Let us believe in the power of the light of God to transcribe Christ's image on our heart. Let us not seek to do the work the Spirit must do. Let us simply trust Him to do it. Our duty is to seek the prepared heart waiting, longing, praying for the likeness; [b]to take our place face to face with Jesus, gazing, loving, believing that the wonderful vision of that Crucified One is the sure promise of what we can be;[/b] then putting aside all that can distract, in stillness of soul, silent unto God, just to allow the blessed Spirit as the light of God to do the work.

-Andrew Murray

Day 31

Himself for us; us for Himself; an entire exchange; a perfect union; a complete identity in interest and purpose. Himself for us, as Saviour; us for Himself, still as Saviour, like Him and for Him to continue on earth the work which He began.

-Andrew Murray